


Hotel Hangout

by wherever_i_may_roam



Series: Twin Flames [1]
Category: Suite Life of Zack & Cody
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Denial of Feelings, Falling In Love, Growing Up Together, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Slow Burn, Twincest, Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:53:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25585468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wherever_i_may_roam/pseuds/wherever_i_may_roam
Summary: When Zack and Cody want to make friends, they meet Max and Tapeworm. After the 'Drew Crew' finds out where they live, they suddenly want to hang out with the twins.
Relationships: Cody Martin/Zack Martin
Series: Twin Flames [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1854382
Kudos: 17





	Hotel Hangout

**Author's Note:**

> Rewrite for the Zack and Cody series, but if they were soulmates.

“Mom!” Cody yells and puts himself in front of his mom, blocking her path. “Why can’t you drive us to the playground?” Zack and Cody, blonde twin boys, living at the Tipton Hotel, argued with their young mother in the hotel lobby.

“Because I have to rehearse new choreography for my next show. Mr. Moseby thinks I need some younger moves.” Carey, the twins’ mom, shows the boys her ridiculous recent dance moves. If you want to call it dancing. She might want to keep practicing if she considers keeping her job. “What do you think?”

“I think you should never do that in public,” Zack replies with distaste in his voice. If she didn’t embarrass them more, that would do them in.

“Or in private,” Cody adds on. _Or never._

“Why don’t you guys invite over some friends from school?” Carey asks with amusement. Friends? What are those?

“That’s a great idea,” Cody says, sarcastically.

Like anybody would want to be friends with the _weird twins._ That’s what everybody called Zack and Cody at their old school. Some kid called Cody a freak and wouldn’t stop picking on him, so Zack slammed his face into a locker. Nobody messed with Cody again, but nobody wanted to be friends with them either. That’s not why they called them the _weird twins_ though. No, they called them that, because not only would Zack do _anything_ for his brother, but they were practically inseparable. Everywhere Zack went, there was Cody right behind him. So, if you got Zack, you got Cody, and not everybody liked Cody, much to his dismay. It’s a wonder Zack keeps him around.

“Too bad we don’t have any,” Zack says, and Carey crosses her arms with sympathy. “Nobody ever likes the new kids.” What’s the point of making friends at this school, anyway? They barely lasted long enough to get their first assignment at their last school, before they had to move again. It’s no different now than it was before.

“Come here.” Carey smiles, reassuringly. She brings the boys both in for a hug and kisses each of their heads. “You’ll make friends soon. We’re here to stay now.”

“Not if you use those moves.” Zack imitates his mom’s dancing moves, walking backwards like a mummy, and accidentally bumps into the center table, nearly knocking an antique vase over. They all gasp before it falls. Luckily, Esteban leaps forward, landing on his back and letting the vase land carelessly in his hands. Everyone brings their hands back in, realizing he caught the vase.

“Impressive catch, Esteban,” Mr. Moseby says with pride.

“If you thought that was impressive, Mr. Moseby. Watch this.” Esteban flips the vase in the air before catching it, making everyone yell, nervously. He puts the antique against his ear and says with excitement, “Ooh! I can hear the ocean.”

“Let me hear! I wanna hear!” Zack and Cody grab for it, wanting to hear, too.

* * *

Zack and Cody had just gotten off the city bus near Buckner Middle School. Cody tried to lace his fingers with Zack’s, but Zack pulled his hand back. They always held hands, as it always made Cody feel safer, closer to Zack. It confused Cody why Zack wouldn’t hold his hand now. Zack sees the hurt look on Cody’s face and sighs.

“Cody, we’re at a new school now. I don’t want to be the _weird twins_ again.”

“But we always hold hands,” Cody says in a small voice.

“Holding hands with your twin brother doesn’t make you cool.” Right. Cody rolls his eyes and walks ahead of Zack. Zack turns to follow him, but pulls Cody’s wrist back when he sees Drew, and his crew straggling behind him. Drew is the cool kid in school and Zack desperately wants to be his friend. “Cody, check it out. It’s the Drew crew.” Cody keeps his head down and rolls his eyes as Zack is about to make a fool of himself. Zack calls out to Drew and puts his hand up for a high five, which goes unnoticed. “Yo, Drew. What up, dawg?”

Drew laughs at him. “Hey, look, it’s the clones.” The rest of Drew’s crew laughs with him and they walk away.

“Did you hear that? The Drew crew just mocked us!” Zack says, elated.

Cody waves his hands around lazily. “Woo-hoo! We’re in,” he says with fake excitement.

A short girl in skater clothes and a tall jew-fro boy came up behind Zack and Cody, having witnessed their entire exchange with Drew.

“The Drew crew will never accept you. Don’t beat your head against a wall,” the girl says.

“Even though it feels good sometimes,” the tall one says, compassionately. They all look at him weirdly.

“I’m Max, by the way. And this is Tapeworm,” Max says and points to Tapeworm.

“What kind of name is that?” Zack asks, incredulously.

“The kind you get when you eat 20 hot dogs in less than 2 minutes,” Max replies.

“Cool! Beats my record,” Cody says, cheekily.

“By 18.” Zack frowns and Cody glares at him. Zack suddenly gets an idea. “Hey! You guys wanna come over to our house?”

“Did you hear that? Someone wants us to come over to _their_ house!” Tapeworm says, beyond belief.

* * *

When Zack and Cody return home at the Tipton Hotel with their friends in tow they find their mom singing with a hairbrush and dancing in front of the mirror. She talks herself through her dance moves and counts the steps. Her back is towards them so she doesn’t even realize how much she’s embarrassing herself. Zack and Cody stare at her with their mouths wide open.

“Mom!” Zack shouts, surprising her out of her dance.

“Oh!...kay.” Carey takes her brush and pretends to brush the back of her hair to save herself from the embarrassment.

“What are you doing?” Zack asks, shocked.

“Apparently I’m embarrassing myself in front of your new friends.” Carey pauses before exclaiming, “You made friends!” She towers over them, excitedly.

“Maybe,” Max says, creeped out. She quickly gets over it when she sees their music system hooked up in the middle of the room. “Whoa! This is so tight!” Max turns on some hip-hop music and breaks out into a dance.

“I was just rehearsing for-” Carey starts, watching Max dance. “... for my new show. Man, look at you go.” Carey is super impressed she thinks she found the moves Mr. Moseby was looking for. “Wow! Can you show me how you do that?”

“Sure,” Max replies and breaks out some more similar dance moves.

Carey squats down to look Max in the eye when she finishes her move. “Okay. No. The part a mom can actually do.”

Max looks up in understanding. “Oh, okay.”

* * *

Zack and Cody were hanging out with Max and Tapeworm during lunch bell. Zack was in a deep conversation with Max and Tapeworm about the school play. He’s glad that Zack and he made some friends, but it feels different. Everything feels different. Nothing is supposed to change between them, so why does it feel like everything is changing. _He just doesn’t want to hold your hand. It’s not a big deal._ Except it is a big deal. It’s the biggest deal. As soon as Zack said those words, it felt like something inside him gave a little snap. Like a twig being crushed under another’s foot. It’s not supposed to feel this way with Zack. Cody’s always felt a warm river with Zack, but now it feels like that river is doubling over in ice and there’s no way Cody can stop it. Cody hears Drew’s voice behind them before Zack does.

“Hey, clones. Is it true that you really live in the Tipton hotel?”

“Yeah, our mom sings there.” Cody crosses his arms., suspicious of where this conversation is heading.

“And it makes your place look like a dump,” Max says, mockingly.

“Yeah,” Tapeworm pipes up.

Drew rolls his eyes at them ignorantly, before putting his attention back on Zack and Cody. “And are there really hot babes serving ice cream by the pool?”

“3 flavors.” Cody brings up three fingers.

“And we’re talkin’ ‘bout the girls,” Zack blurts and nods his head, appreciatively. Cody frowns at Zack. He was silent this entire time, and he has to say something so idiotic.

Drew points his fingers for the twins to follow him away from open eyes. “Maybe we’ll, uh... come over and hang out,” he says, regarding his friends.

“You wanna hang out with us?” Cody asks incredulously while Zack’s grinning at Drew’s words.

Zack hits Cody on the back lightly. “Of course, he does.” Cody looks away guiltily. Zack can’t possibly believe that Drew wants to hang out with them. Cool kids have never wanted to hang out with the _weird twins_. Guess they’re not the _weird twins_ anymore, as Zack says. Not that Cody enjoys being weird, but if it means that Zack pulls away from him just to be cool; he’d take being weird over cool any day. Is it that weird, though? They’re twins. They’re supposed to be close. Some people just don’t understand what it’s like.

Drew puts his arms around each twin’s neck and walks with them. “You know, I’ve always liked you two.”

“No, you didn’t,” Cody replies, offended. Zack flicks Cody’s ear behind Drew’s back to get him to shut up. “Ow! Quit it!” Cody snaps at his brother.

* * *

Zack, Cody, Drew and his crew are relaxing by the pool, enjoying the free amenities. Cody’s laid back on the lounge chair next to his brother. He sneaks a glance at Zack under his black shades.  
Cody knows Zack’s his soulmate, he just doesn't understand why he keeps pulling away from him. He gets that Zack wants to be the cool new kid, but at what cost? They shouldn't change who they were just to fit in. He loves his brother, but he can be a doofus, like now... Inviting Drew here? What the hell was he thinking? Of course, Zack can’t see the only reason Drew’s hanging out with them is to party at the hotel for free. All he can see is popularity.

_Fat chance, Zack._

It’d be nice to be popular, sure, but Cody’s smart enough to know that cool kids like Drew, do not hang out with kids like Cody.

“Ooh! 4:00 ice cream,” Zack says, sitting up. Cody looks up to see a tray of 3 sundaes being sat down in front of them.

“Like clockwork,” Cody says.

“Maybe you guys aren’t so lame after all,” Drew says decidedly.

Zack rushes over to Cody’s side, and Cody stands up to talk to Zack in private. “Did you hear that? We’re in. We’re not so lame.”

“We’ve never been so popular!” Cody exclaims, to match Zack’s excitement. Maybe if he pretended to be in with the cool kids, Zack would stop pulling away from him. Cody looks like he wants to hug Zack, but they’re interrupted by Max and Tapeworm barging between them. Tapeworm accidentally pushes Cody over the lounge chair, and Zack hurries to help him up.

“Hey, you okay?” Zack asks him, still holding onto his hand. Cody looks down at their hands formed together. Cody’s silence draws Zack’s attention to where he’s staring. Zack’s entire body flushes red when he notices he’s still holding onto Cody’s hand. Not just _holding_ Cody’s hand. No, he was gripping it in his own and not letting go. After just this morning, he told Cody they have to try not to be the weird twins again. Maybe it’s not as easy as Zack thought. Maybe he feels the same way Cody does.

Cody’s felt off ever since this morning and he knows it has to do with Zack, pulling on their bond. Pulling himself away from Cody. Zack _must_ feel the same. He has to. Why torture them with this, though? Is fitting in really that much more important than what they’ve shared together? Maybe Zack doesn’t know about the bond. That’d be ridiculous, though. Right? Cody didn’t find out that Zack’s his soulmate until he started reading up on it. He knows everybody has a soulmate, but twins are born with their soulmate. Zack would rather spend his time sleeping than paying attention to anything intellectual, including Cody himself, so it’d make sense. Stupidly, sense.

Zack pushes Cody away from him, and he falls back on the lounge chair. Thankfully, nobody saw. Tapeworm was too busy complaining there was no more ice cream. Cody looks at Zack, stunned that he had just pushed him. Cody feels a twisting in his heart, and he knows Zack feels it too, by the way he rubs at his chest, briefly.

“Hey, let’s all go in the jacuzzi,” Max says, momentarily distracting Cody. Cody heads in first, but when Zack sits next to him he turns his back on him. He didn’t want to fight with Zack right now. But something was going on with him. If he can’t talk to him now, he has to get him alone later. Zack will rarely talk about his feelings around other people, let alone him. But if he uses his words right, Zack always opens up eventually. Drew’s crew takes up the entire hot tub before Max and Tapeworm could get in. “Guys, move over. Make some room,” Max says with dismay.

Drew laughs, mockingly, pointing his fingers in another direction. “Sorry, but the kiddie pool’s over there.” His crew follows suit in laughing, including Zack, but Cody does not.

“Great! First, no finger sandwiches and then no ice cream and now this,” Tapeworm says, disdainfully.

“They always have extra in the cabana,” Cody says, trying to lighten the situation. He was feeling bad about how they’ve been leaving him and Max out all day. They were their friends first, and they actually liked them. And not as the _weird twins_. Drew just likes their stuff.

“All right!” Tapeworm shouts, excitedly.

“Better not be melted,” Max says, disheartened.

As soon as Max and Tapeworm leave, Drew suggests they ditch them. Cody wants to stay behind, but Zack really wants to impress Drew, so he tells Drew he’ll catch up with them. Zack swivels around to look Cody in the eyes, making Cody’s heart stop for a second.

“Look, we just got past lame. Don’t screw things up,” Zack grouses.

“But mom says we’re not supposed to give in to peer pressure,” Cody says, crossing his arms, and giving Zack a stern look. He doesn’t like the way Zack’s acting.

“We’re not. We’re just doing what everybody else is doing.” Zack shrugs. “Come on.”

“But it’ll hurt their feelings,” Cody says, dejectedly.

“No, it won’t. They’re gonna laugh. Eventually,” Zack says, reassuringly. Cody frowns, but follows Zack, looking back to make sure Max and Tapeworm aren’t looking.

* * *

The next day Cody had told Zack not to invite Drew again and again. Drew comes over and asks if he can invite a few of his buddies with him. Zack says yes. Of course, Zack says yes. Where is the surprise there? It didn’t end up being just a few buddies, though. Drew invited their entire grade to the Tipton. It’s only been a few minutes and there are kids still coming through the hotel. Drew might have even invited the whole school. Sans Max and Tapeworm. Cody tried to say hi to Max today, but she completely ignored him. He didn’t want to lose the only friends they had, but he didn’t want Zack to pull away from him any more than he already has.

“Okay, Drew!” Zack hollers at Drew as he’s walking away. “Nice talking to you, man!”

“Zack,” Cody mumbles behind him. Zack spins on his heel to face Cody. “You got a minute?”

“What’s up?”

“Have you talked to Max and Tapeworm today?”

“Why would I do that?” Zack scoffs.

“Because they’re our friends.” Cody crosses his arms.

“No, _Drew_ is our friend. And so are all these other people.”

“You don’t even know anyone here. You’re acting different. Why’d you push me yesterday?” Zack takes a hesitant step back, away from Cody.

“What? I didn’t do that.” Zack looks away, avoiding looking Cody in the eyes.

“You did!” Cody waves his arms up, irritated with Zack.

“No, I would-”

Carey finds her sons bickering in front of the snack bar, but they pipe down once they see her. “Hey, guys!”

“Hey,” Zack says, glad to have a change in conversation.

“Where are Max and Tapeworm?”

“Um... They might not be here today,” Cody says with finesse. He doesn’t know how to tell his mom they ditched their new friends to be in the cool crowd.

“Yo, Zack? We’re out of finger sandwiches.” Drew hollers from the couch in the lobby that his friends have taken space on.

“Oh.” Zack’s first instinct is to get those finger sandwiches for Drew straight away, like he’s his pony boy. Carey stops him before he can go any further.

“Whoa, Zack. Are all these kids with you?” She points around the room at all the kids.

“Yeah, we’re part of their posse.” Cody watches from his peripheral to see Zack crossing his arms and nodding appreciatively, and Cody mimics him.

Carey chuckles. “Guys, I told you to bring home a couple of friends, not the entire school. Moseby’s gonna blow his top. Fix it,” she says, amused. She’s glad they’re finally making friends.

“Ok, Mom. We’ll take care of it.” Zack turns to Cody as his mom walks away and whispers to him, “You want to tell Drew not to invite any more of his friends over?”

“No, it’s ok. Y-you can do it,” Cody stutters, pushing Zack in front of him, but Zack steps back behind him. Cody looks at Drew, frightened; imagining what Drew would do if they kicked him out.

“We probably don’t have to say anything. How many more friends could he have?” Zack laughs, nervously. Drew hollers at more of his friends coming through the hotel and a hoard of them walk pass Zack and Cody.

“You were saying?”

“All right, first one to the game room gets free foosball all afternoon!” Zack calls out before running ahead with Cody as the kids trample over each other to get to the stairs.

* * *

Zack and Cody got everybody out of the lobby and into the game room. Everything seemed to be going effortlessly. So far.

“Good turnout. All the A-list kids are here,” Zack says, grinning.

“Yeah, but do any of them even know your name?” Cody asks, cockily.

“Yeah.”

“Hey, Jack! Gimme a quarter,” a friend of Drew’s yells at Zack from the corner of the room.

“See? Off by one letter,” Zack says to Cody, who rolls his eyes, affectionately.

“Psst! Zack, Cody. I need to speak with you,” Esteban says, from the doorway and makes his way through the hoard of kids to the other side of the room to talk to Zack and Cody.

“What’s up, Esteban?”

“I have been given a terrible task. I have been ordered to rid the premises of children by Mr. Moseby.” Zack and Cody look at each other, unjustly. “Now, I could disobey him, but Mr. Moseby reminds me of my father, who was also strict, demanding, ruthless, and mean. Oh, I miss my papa so much,” he cries.

“It’s okay.” Cody tries to console him, but he waves him off.

“I need a moment,” Esteban says, leaving the room.

“We can’t ask them to leave. They’re our friends,” Zack says, looking around the room.

“Hey, Zeke! This stupid machine keeps stealing all my quarters!” The same kid from before pounds on the machine in front of him.

“I think your friend is talking to you, Zeke,” Cody says, lowering his eyes at Zack.

“You’re right. We got to get rid of them. But how?”

“I know!” Cody gets their attention. “Hey! Free foot-long grinders at the Saint Mark hotel across the street!” They all flood out of the game room.

“Excellent. I’ll clean out the lobby and you get the rooftop,” Zack tells his brother before they split ways.

* * *

Zack and Cody split up to get all of Drew’s friends out of the hotel. Cody made his way to the rooftop where the pool was. He found three kids from his school sitting in the jacuzzi. He told them to leave, but they completely ignored him. How is he gonna get everybody out of here if they won’t listen to him? Cody shakes his head at them and looks around. He notices a cup of chocolate ice cream sitting by his foot and gets an idea. He makes sure they’re not looking at him before he dumps the ice cream into the jacuzzi.

“Ew! Gross!” They all rush to get out. After clearing the lobby of kids downstairs, Zack finds Cody on the rooftop. He looks at the ice cream in the jacuzzi and wrinkles his nose at it. “Don’t ask. How we doing?”

“I got rid of everybody downstairs,” Zack says, out of breath. “Except for one kid that was crying and begging to stay. Turns out his parents are actually _guests_ here."

Drew passes by them with his crew, dribbling a ball through the pool area. The boys try to get his attention by hollering his name.

“Listen, Drew! Drew, we need to talk to you,” Cody says.

“What?” Drew asks, annoyed.

“T-take it away, Zack,” Cody stutters, pushing his brother in front of him.

“See, the thing is, is we kinda need you to leave,” Zack says, gently.

“We’re in the middle of a game,” Drew says, carelessly, turning his back on the twins.

“No!” Cody says, ticked off with Drew by his obnoxious behavior. He pushes Zack behind him, getting in Drew’s face. “That doesn’t work for us. You need to leave.” Cody quickly becomes fearful, remembering who he was talking to. Cody pulls his brother back in front of him to protect himself from Drew. “T-tell him why Zack.”

“Man, you guys need to chill,” Drew says, exasperated. “Cause if we leave, we’re not coming back. Then you’ll have to hang out with those 2 dweebs Max and Silkworm.”

“His name’s Tapeworm and he’s our friend!” Zack defends. “And so is the other dweeb.”

“Yeah, and they liked us even before they knew we had this cool place and dainty finger sandwiches,” Cody adds.

“That’s right! And then you made us ditch them. So you know what? Now we’re ditching you. Give me back the ball.”

“Fine. Here.” Drew holds the ball out to Zack but before he can take it Drew laughs and throws the ball behind him, where it bounces off the satellite dish. Zack and Cody watch as the cord snaps off one by one, pulling the satellite off the top of the hotel. They both grab the cord, trying to pull it back up the building.

“I can’t believe we broke the hotel,” Zack grunts to Cody. They groan at the weight of the satellite, pushing forward. Cody looks up when he sees 2 different pairs of shoes in front of him.

“Looks like you guys could use some help,” Max says, mockingly.

“What are you guys doing here?” Zack asks, breathlessly, pulling the cord over his shoulder.

“Well, we came here to tell you off,” Tapeworm says.

“But lucky for you, we overheard you guys defending us dweebs,” Max says, pointedly.

“Sorry we ditched ya,” Zack says, sincerely.

“So we’re friends again?” Cody asks, hopefully. They could really use the help before they get in trouble.

“We’ll have to think about it.” Max looks up at Tapeworm. The cord slips from Zack’s hands, forcing the twins back, quickly. Zack shouts in surprise.

“Well, could you think fast? Cause I think I just caught a bus,” Zack says, having trouble pulling the satellite back up. Max laughs.

“Okay!” Tapeworm says, and he and Max rush over to help Zack and Cody.

“What have you done?!” Carey exclaims from behind them, seeing the disaster they caused. Zack and Cody let go of the cord and quickly turn around, leaving Max and Tapeworm on their own.

“Mom!” The twins exclaim in surprise.

“I am surprised at you two, and you two, too!” She scolds at the boys.

“They didn’t do it,” Zack says. 

“They were the only two that stayed to help,” Cody adds, not wanting their newfound friends to get in trouble as well.

“Guys? Hello?” Max says, breathless, trying to get their attention. She and Tapeworm alone struggled to hold the satellite up.

“Come on!” Tapeworm whines. Zack, Cody, and Carey each grab a piece of the cord and pull.

“It wasn’t us. It was that kid Drew.” Zack looks back at Cody behind him. “I told you he was no good.”

“You... said... nothing!” Cody says, pulling on the cord. He really thinks he can pull this crap? Cody told him so many times that Drew was bad news. He never listens to him.

“I don’t care who did it. _Pull!_ It’s still your responsibility. _P_ _ull!_ When I told you this hotel is your home, I meant you should treat it with respect. _Pull!_ "

“Sorry. I guess I messed up,” Zack says, guiltily.

“That’s right. He messed up,” Cody says, breathlessly. Zack turns his head to glare at Cody. “Pull!” Cody yells at him. Ice creams passes by them and the 4 tweens get distracted, letting go of the cord.

“Ooh! 4:00 ice cream,” Tapeworm says, excitedly.

“Oh, man, I picked the wrong day to wear heels,” Carey moans in complaint as she’s left alone.


End file.
